Got More Money?

It does a body good, but buying the amount of milk you need to stay healthy may end up breaking your budget. The price has continued to increase, but many people still "got milk".

After a 25-year low last year, milk prices are bouncing back to record highs. A gallon of whole milk at Bay County grocery stores is right around $3.60, that's a 60 cent jump in the cost of a gallon of milk in the past three months, and the price isn't the only thing some consumers have noticed.

"It's pretty bad lately. It's gotten higher and higher. I work at a daycare, and our milk has been sour a couple of times. We've had to pour milk out. The price has gone up dramatically it's ridiculous," says Michelle Eldridge, who buys milk twice a week.

The price of milk isn't the only thing going up. The price of other dairy products like cheese and butter are also increasing, so why are dairy products costing you more? Experts say that the hike is due to several factors, including a shortage of dairy herds, higher feed and beef prices and the mad cow disease scare, but the shortage and ensuing price hike hasn't effected milk from flying off local grocery shelves.

"Just last Saturday I couldn't keep one shelf of milk stocked at any time, because people are lined up. Especially for the vitamin D and two percent milk. We ran out of milk within six hours," says Brice Morgan, a dairy stocker at Wal-Mart.

Michelle says she hopes milk prices will go back down again and soon, but for now she's digging deeper into her wallet to keep her family healthy.

"Milk is a necessity. You need it to stay healthy and to grow. Our kids need it as well, so no matter what the price is people are going to need it," says Michelle Eldridge.

Milk prices generally go up and down in cycles. Experts say it's too early to tell when prices might go back down.

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